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PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



REPORT 



ON 



S C HO OL-H OUSE8, 



AND THE 



MEANS OF PROMOTING POPULAR EDUCATION, 

BY 

J. R. FRE E S E, 

UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER. 









" 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

186 8. 









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X 



CONTENTS. 



School-rooms and School-houses 5 

Comparison of School Buildings 6 

School House Furniture 7 

Apparatus for Promoting Education 8 

Physical Development— Gymnasiums 9 

School Apparatus in the Spanish Section 9 

School Apparatus in France and the United States 10 

Beneficial Kesults of the School Exhibition 11 

mlneralogical and botanical collections 12 



* 



REPORT ON SCHOOL-HOUSES 



THE MEANS OF PROMOTING AND EXTENDING POPULAR EDUCATION. 



Iu this report the notices and inquiries are confined to the exhibits 
made in the Exposition by different nations. To go outside of this would 
involve an inquiry of interminable length, which could only be embodied 
in volumes rather than in a portion of a single report of reasonable 
limits. What, then, is there in the Exposition relative to school-houses 
and the means of promoting and extending popular education? 

SCHOOLROOMS AND BUILDINGS. 

Of rooms or buildings specially designed for educational purposes there 
are only four in the Exposition, contributed by Sweden, Prussia, Saxony, 
and the United States. 

SWEDISH SCHOOL-ROOM. 

The contribution from Sweden is a school-room on the first floor of a 
building representing one class of the habitations of the country. The 
room is about 24 feet in length by 18 in width ; height of ceiling about 
10 feet; lined with boards on the sides; bare beams overhead, and with 
but one low double window at one end. Everything about the room is 
rough and uncouth. The building is not intended to represent the resi- 
dence of the teacher in connection with, or having charge of, the school, 
but is only exhibited as a specimen of the habitations of the country. 
Whether the common schools of the country are ordinarily located in 
one room of a private residence, as this represents, I am not informed, 
but presume from the exhibit that such is the case. 

PRUSSIAN SCHOOL BUILDING. 

The Prussian school building represents such as are usual in the vil- 
lages of the country. It consists of two parts blended in one building. 
Its form is that of a T, with this difference, however, that the leg or part 
which runs off from the cross is, in length and breadth upon the ground, 
about the same as the upper or cross building; the lower floor of the 
latter being used as the school-room, and the second floor of this, with 
all of the balance, as a residence for the teacher. The school-room is 
about 30 feet in length by 20 in width ; height of ceiling about 10 feet ; 
plastered within and well lighted. The ground floor of the dwelling 
part consists of an entry- way, (used for access to the school-room as well 
as for the dwelling part;) a sitting room about 15 feet square; a cabinet 



6 • PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

or library room at the end of the sitting room; abed chamber behind 
the cabinet, and a kitchen behind the sitting room. On the second floor 
are four other bed chambers, two over the school part and two over the 
dwelling part. 

SAXON SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

The third specimen school-building is from Saxony, and represents 
the normal rather than the common school establishments. It is in 
the form of a small Grecian temple, with four columns in front, and 
with niches, in which are vases, on either side of the main entrance. Its 
length and width, each, is about 28 feet; ceiling about 12 feet, and it is 
lighted from above. 

UNITED STATES SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

The fourth, and only other, school-building is the specimen contributed 
from the State of Illinois, of the United States, and is intended to repre- 
sent the common cross-road and village school-house as connected with 
the common-school system of the State. It is a substantial frame build- 
ing; weather-boarded and painted without; plastered neatly within; is 33 
feet in length by 17 in breadth; has three high windows, which lower 
from the top, on either side, and two at one end; its ceiling is 15 feet in 
height, with a vestibule outside of the school-room, to which doors give 
entrance from either side, and from which two doors open into the school- 
room. 

COMPARISON OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

In considering the question (with these, and only these, specimens 
before me) as to what, if anything, can be learned from other nations in 
the way of constructing buildings, or rooms, for educational purposes, I 
am forced to the conclusion that we can learn nothing to advantage, 
but, on the contrary, that other nations, if they choose, may learn from 
us. 

The superior height of ceiling, with windows letting down from the 
top, of our schoolroom, affords full and free ventilation so necessary for 
the health and comfort of the pupils, while the large windows upon either 
side and at the end afford an abundance of light, and thereby saves the 
straining of vision, which is unavoidable where children are taught in 
rooms dimly lighted. The general appearance and neatness of the room, 
too, is far superior to either of the other exhibits, and it may be said 
that, if you wish to teach children habits of neatness and good order, 
you must have the room in which they are taught, and everything about, 
it, neat and in good order. 

The neatness of ours, as compared with the uncouth appearance of 
the other common school exhibits, illustrates another fact greatly in 
favor of the United States, namely, the superior social status which 
teachers of common schools hold in our country, as compared to that 



REPORT ON SCHOOL-HOUSES. 7 

hold by them in most European countries. With us the teacher of 
even the cross-road or village school is held in high esteem, and is every- 
where treated with respect due to his talents and personal worth, as well 
as to his vocation as an educator. In most European countries teach- 
ers of common schools hold a very subordinate position in the commu- 
nity in which they reside, not equal to that of the tradesman and 
mechanic, and their vocation is regarded as one of humility rather than 
of honor. "Once a schoolmaster always a schoolmaster," is the maxim 
with them, whereas, in the United States, the school teacher of to-day 
may be the minister, the lawyer, the doctor, or the congressman of five 
years hence, or, if a female, the wife of either, and the vocation itself, so 
long as pursued, is always regarded as one of honor and responsibility. 

As to the Prussian plan of having a dwelling for the teacher connected 
with the school-room, it would hardly be generally practicable in the 
United States, as much the larger portion of teachers in our common 
schools are unmarried, and hence need no such family home. The 
idea, however, is not without its practical bearings, and where a teacher 
has a family it would certainly be a great convenience to him to have a 
dwelling connected with his school-room, as rectories or parsonages are 
connected with church edifices. 

The plan of thus connecting the two is, I am told, very common in 
Prussia, and throughout most of the German states, and is found to be ad- 
vantageous, in that it gives a fixed home to the teacher ; relieves him 
from the payment of rent, and the acre or two of ground usually con- 
nected with such school edifices affords him pleasant and profitable em- 
ployment when out of school. In sparsely settled neighborhoods of the 
United States it might be well to consider, when about to erect a school 
house, whether a dwelling part connected with it would not be expe- 
dient ; for, even if the teacher has no family himself, he might, by hav- 
ing the control and rental of the dwelling, as part of his compensa- 
tion, get a family to occupy it with whom he could board pleasantly ; 
and if he should have a family of his own, the convenience, in such a 
neighborhood, would certainly be very great. 

SCHOOL HOUSE FURNITURE. 

The desks and benches in only three of the rooms can be described and 
compared, as the school-house from Saxony is not thus furnished. 

In the Swedish school-room the desks and seats of the pupils are 
separate. The lids of the desks incline slightly inward or downward, 
while in the narrow level space at the top of each desk an excavation is 
made for pens and another for the inkstand ; besides which, each desk is 
furnished with two brass supports, which, when lifted up, afford a place 
against which a copy or book may rest. The seats are made of plain 
boards, with board backs, in the form of a chair, but are rather rough 
in construction, and, we should think, very uncomfortable to sit upon. 



8 ' PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

The teacher's desk is supplied with drawers and other appliances, well 
arranged and in every way convenient. 

The desks of the Prussian school-house consist of one long, flat board, 
about L2 inches wide, with no division or mark to indicate the space 
assigned to each pupil, and without any particular place for pens, ink, 
etc. Those exhibited are about 15 feet long, leaving about 2 J feet on 
either side between the end of the desks and the walls. The seats are 
like the desks, one long, flat board, only that they are 9 inches instead 
of 12 in width. They have no backs, or division marks to designate the 
place of each pupil. The teacher's desk is only a plain stand, without 
conveniences of any kind. 

In the American school-house the desk and seat of each pupil is dis- 
tinct and separate, and both are fitted up with a special view to comfort 
as well as convenience. Not only are they comfortable and convenient, 
but neat withal, and the most thoughtless or mischevious pupil would 
never think of using his penknife to deface either. Here, as in the case 
of the school-room, the remark will apply that neatness in the furnishing 
induces or begets habits of neatness in the pupils. The teacher's desk 
is fitted up with drawers and every convenience. 

Of the three exhibits of school-room furniture the American is alto- 
gether the best, both as to convenience, comfort, and neatness, so that 
here, as in the case of the school-rooms, we can profit nothing from the 
exhibits of other nations. 

APPARATUS FOE PEOMOTING EDUCATION. 

In considering school apparatus, and such other appliances as have 
been invented and used for promoting educaton, the exhibits made by 
two other nations, viz. : France and Spain, should be added to the list. 

Commencing again with Sweden, a large variety of school apparatus 
of almost every shape and form, is to be found on exhibition, some of which 
is exceedingly ingenious and curious, and could scarcely fail to interest, 
while instructing the younger pupils. Colored counters, strung on hori- 
zontal wires, in an upright frame ; small black-boards, with movable slides, 
on which letters and figures are arranged in different orders ; another 
board, with movable metal type, which are placed and replaced in grooves 
and mortises, until the pupil has imitated the copy before him ; blocks, 
demonstrating the various geometrical figures ; maps and drawings in 
great variety, some of which are of superior execution ; a large assort- 
ment of school books, primary, intermediate and classical j dried and 
pressed specimens of the flowers and plants of the country ; and a small 
collection of minerals, form a general catalogue of this exhibit. We also 
find here models of gymnastic apparatus, such as are used in some of 
the schools of the country. 

Passing to Prussia, about the same variety of school apparatus and appli- 
ances is to found as in Sweden, together with a few additions worthy of 
note — such as astronomical maps and atlasses of superior workmanship ; 



REPORT ON SCHOOL-HOUSES. 9 

drawings of.steam engines and of other mechanical inventions; a large 
variety of drawing books, embracing almost every conceivable subject ; 
music books in great variety ; and specimens of worsted- work and em- 
broidery, done by the female pupils of their common schools. The addi- 
tional exhibits indicate, in a manner, the special bent or inclination of 
the popular mind, and the Prussians are found to excel in the very pursuits 
and accomplishments which are taught thus early to their children. 

In the Saxony exhibit is found most of the school apparatus and appli- 
ances before mentioned, together with anatomical atlasses; a variety of 
artificial globes, admirably executed ; maps, with a black background, 
showing the starry firmament, and others in basso-relievo ; and a com- 
plete set of blocks, illustrating the systems of crystallization. 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT— GYMNASIUMS. 

The great feature of this exhibit is the beautiful model of the Normal 
Gymnastic School at Dresden, representing not only the buildings and 
grounds, but each and every contrivance used in the exercises. This 
model stands upon a large table or platform in the centre of the room, 
occupying the entire space, except so much as is necessary to pass around 
it. The prominence given to this, exhibit shows how large a share of 
attention the subject occupies in the minds of the educational men of the 
country, and may well awaken the inquiry in other countries whether 
more attention to this branch of physical education would not be bene- 
ficial ? In Saxony, there is scarcely a common school to be found any- 
where without a gymnastic department, and the educational men of the 
state consider it quite as important to develop the physical as the mental 
capacity of the pupils. The same is true of other German states, though 
not, perhaps, to so large an extent as in Saxony. 

That such exercises promote the general health as well as the devel- 
opment of muscle and -nerve; and that mental development cannot pro- 
gress favorably and rapidly without sound health and a proportional 
development of the physical system, will be admitted by all ; and, this 
admitted, it follows that a portion of the time devoted to education can- 
not be better employed than in systematic gymnastic exercises. 

A few schools in the United States, of the higher grades only, have 
added gymnastics to their other exercises ; but it has not been made 
in any of the States a part of the common school system; andthe query 
now arises whether it might not be added with very great advantage u ? 
This report is not the proper place in which to argue the question at 
length ; its province is to state facts and throw out suggestions for the 
consideration of American educators. 

SCHOOL APPAEATUS IN THE SPANISH SECTION. 

In the Spanish department of public instruction there is a larger 
variety of school apparatus and appliances for the promotion of educa- 
tion than in either of the departments heretofore mentioned. I had sup- 



10 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

posed that Spain was so far behind all the rest of the civilized world 
in matters of education as to make no pretension to compete with other 
European nations in this particular; but the exhibit which she makes 
in the Exposition proves that in this I was mistaken. 

In addition to the ordinary school apparatus and appliances found in 
the other exhibits there are several pieces of peculiar construction, show- 
ing not only great ingenuity, but a depth of thought and a wonderful 
and admirable precision of mathematical calculation. Among apparatus 
of this kind several movable calculating tables may be mentioned, which, 
by a simple adjustment, will give correct answers to mathematical pro- 
blems which it would take hours to solve by the usual methods. It is a 
a piano geometrico^ as it is called in Spanish, consisting of a board, about 12 
inches square, in which holes are made with such mathematical preci- 
sion, that, by placing wires with bent points and in lengths to suit 
the different distances of the holes from each other, any theorem of 
geometry can be accurately demonstrated. There is also a very complete 
series of models, showing the systems of crystallization, arranged in 
18 distinct groups ; and another apparatus, called a " mechanical tablet 
for teaching to read," wherein the letters or representative signs of sim- 
ple sounds and articulations are separated in different groups. These 
letters and groups are printed on ribbon rollers, placed within a case, the 
face of which has small openings through which these letters and groups 
may be seen isolated or in combinations as the teacher may determine by 
the adjusting of little pins, and the turning of a crank. at the end of the 
upright case. The apparatus is simple, though ingenious, and the advan- 
tage claimed for it is that it shows each letter isolated, and prevents 
thereby learning by rote, the pupil being necessarily led to distinguish 
the letters by their own distinctive forms and not by their relative order, as 
he too frequently does in primers, reading frames, and reading books, in 
which letters remain always in the same relative positions in which they 
are printed. Moreover, as the pupil does not know which letter or com- 
bination of letters will appear at the opening his natural curiosity keeps 
him constantly attentive. There is, also, in the Spanish department a 
great variety of school books ; a large number of drawings, some of which 
are admirably executed j and some handsome specimens of worsted-work 
and embroidery done by pupils of their schools. 

SCHOOL APPAEATUS IN FEANCE AND IN THE UNITED 

STATES. 

The French exhibit of school apparatus, books, etc., is quite extensive, 
embracing almost everything usually found in schools, though there is 
nothing to be seen in the whole collection, which is specially new or advan- 
ta geous. Indeed, in variety of apparatus and new school inventions, Spain 
excels France, a condition of things which no one could have expected 
from the general reputation of the two countries. Statistics show, how- 
ever, that the number who can neither read nor write in France is very 



REPORT ON SCHOOL-HOUSES. 11 

great ; and not until recently has the government given any special atten- 
tion to the common schools of the country, though meanwhile giving much 
attention to the higher branches of education. 

The exhibit of school apparatus and appliances by the United States 
comes next in order but neither in quantity nor variety does it equal 
the exhibits made by either of the other nations referred to. This is 
accounted for, however, in part, by the fact that our exhibit is intended 
to illustrate only such apparatus and appliances as are used in the 
cross-road and village school, such as the school-house itself repre- 
sents, whereas the exhibits made by other nations include such as 
they use in their academies and higher grade of schools as well. What 
we do exhibit of maps, charts, artificial globes, geometric blocks, etc.,' 
etc., are quite equal in quality to the exhibits of other nations, and 
that we might have shown a much larger variety had we included such 
as are used in our higher grade of schools is well known to all who have 
any knowledge of the schools of our country. It is true, however, that 
the European exhibits show some articles of apparatus and appliances 
which have never yet been introduced into our schools. 

BENEFICIAL BESULTS OF THE EXHIBITION. 

Having thus taken a general survey of the exhibits in the Exposition 
relative to educational matters the query arises : What can we learn and 
wherein can we be benefited from the exhibits made ? 

In the structure of our school-houses and school-rooms, and in the com- 
fort, convenience, and neatness of our school-desks and. seats, we cannot, 
as has been heretofore intimated, learn anything by way of improvement, 
as ours are much superior to any others in the Exposition. Gymnastic 
exercises have already been spoken of at sufficient length, and conclusions 
may be drawn by the educational men of the country. Of apparatus 
and appliances, as explicit a description has been given as is possible 
without drawings, and from the hints thrown out the mechanical inge- 
nuity of our educators can easily supply both drawings and improved 
apparatus if they think it expedient to do so. 

One of the marked differences between a primary education in the 
United States and Europe is the greater attention which the educators 
of the latter pay to drawing, music, and mechanics. These branches are 
taught in most of our higher grade of schools, but have not been generally 
introduced into our primary or common schools. In Germany, and in 
some other portions of Europe, you will hardly find a boy or girl of ten 
years of age who has not considerable knowledge of music, and who cannot 
sing, or play upon some instrument, or both, with considerable skill ; and 
the same may be said of the sketching or drawing of natural objects and 
mechanical inventions. That these accomplishments afford the possessors 
much real enjoyment, and tend to develop any latent talent they may 
possess of an artistic or mechanical kind, is undoubtedly true,* and 
as a consequence of this early training Europeans excel in these very 



12 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

branches. In these particulars we can learn an improving lesson from the 
Exposition. 

Again, in the exhibits of other nations collections of minerals, and of 
diicd and pressed flowers and plants, peculiar to the country, are to be 
seen, and which, in a small way, are usual in their primary schools, as 
well as in those of a higher grade. In the United States geological, min- 
eralogical and botanical collections are always to be found in our col- 
leges, and often in academies or schools of a high grade ; but seldom, if 
ever, in our primary schools. Such specimens are not only interesting 
as curiosities, but in case any of the pupils should be studying mineral- 
ogy, geology, or botany, they would be of great advantage by way of 
illustration. 

It would be a very easy matter for any school in our country to collect 
in the course of a few years, quite a cabinet of minerals and a large variety 
of pressed flowers and plants, peculiar to the locality in which the school 
may be located. Let the teacher say to the pupils, "Bring me every 
curious stone, or flower, or plant that you may find, and I will arrange 
and clasify them in a way that will give you pleasure and profit," and 
he would soon have a collection of which he might well be proud. To 
these, additions could be made from time to time (better specimens taking 
the place of discarded ones) until the collection would indeed be one of 
scientific value, as well as of advantage to the pupils, and an ornament 
to the school-room. Herein, too, a lesson may be advantageously learned 
from the exhibits of other nations, and it would be gratifying to hear of 
the general adoption of this plan of collecting minerals and plants by the 
schools of the United States. 

No just comparison can really be made between our own school system 
and that of European nations, for the reason that the political institu- 
tions and the people of our own and of European nations are so entirely 
dissimilar. What is acceptable to them, and probably beneficial, would 
not be at all acceptable or profitable to the people of the United States, 
and vice versa. Take, for instance, the laws of Prussia, the nation which 
is generally acknowledged to be in advance of all other European nations 
in educational matters, which direct that parents and guardians shall 
keep their children at school all the while from the age of 7 to 14, and 
affixes severe penalties for any neglect so to do. This places the entire 
direction and control of the public schools in the hands of the central 
government. ]STow, in Prussia, where a mau will scarcely step across the 
road to visit his neighbor without a law authorizing or directing him 
to do so, and where all power is centered in the king and his advisers, 
such laws are practical and, probably, beneficial; but in the United 
States, where men will do from their own free choice what they could 
scarcely be made to do by compulsatory laws ; where only the largest 
liberty of action — so long as it interfers not with the action or rights of 
others — is deemed compatible with republican institutions ; and where 
not only each State, but each county, township, city, and town, claims the 



REPORT ON SCHOOL-HOUSES. 13 

privilege of regulating its own school affairs in many important particu- 
lars, such laws could not be enacted, or, if enacted, would he wholly 
inoperative, as no man coidd he-found who would complain of, and enforce 
the law against, his neighbor. 

Without attempting any extended comparison of the school system of 
the United States and those of European nations, this brief report upon 
school -houses and the means of promoting and extending popular educa- 
tion is respectfully submitted. 

J. R. FREESE, 
United States Commissioner. 



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